Initial “Manhunt 2″ Review Scores Posted

After all the hype, censorship, legal threats, political yammering, rating refusals, and rampant idiocy surrounding “Manhunt 2″, the game is finally scheduled for release tomorrow- just in time for my favorite of all holidays. It’s certainly been a long and grueling stab in the ankle, for the future of the game as well as those who kept up with the anti-fun giblet storm.

In a not-uncommon development, reviews of the game have already begun pouring in. As of this moment (10:53 AM EST), Metacritic has given “Manhunt 2″ a score of ‘71′ for the Playstation 2 version and a ‘69′ for the Wii, which equates to ‘mixed or average’ according to the site. There is currently no percentage on Rotten Tomatoes.

While not astonishingly terrible (a starting score of 30 would be something to worry about) it’s not really a good start. But you can expect the scores to change dramatically over the next few days, after the game has actually been released. The lowest score so far (that I know of) is a ‘40′ from 1UP (4.0, ‘bad’) The highest is a ‘92′ from NGamerUK (no link avaliable… hey wait a minute, UK!?)

The original “Manhunt” on the Playstation 2 has a score of ‘76′, or “generally favorable”

In other news, Gamepolitics reported this morning about the possibility of “Manhunt 2″ actually being released today. I wouldn’t be surprised, but that will require some investigation on my own part. It’s normal for games to be released on Tuesday (and everybody, including me, is going to be busy tomorrow), but come on, blood and gore goes with Halloween like a knife through a turkey.

Movie Review: Ninja Scroll (1993)

 

There was a time, believe it or not, when anime wasn’t considered mainstream. Before it invaded every animation block on television, before ADV and Central Park Media released all that was under the rising sun, before American otaku gathered together at club meetings to cosplay and croon along to Japanese theme songs, it was just me, a few unsheltered friends, and ‘dirty cartoons’ on VHS tapes. To be eleven again…

One of my favorite films from those glory days is Ninja Scroll, which has definitely stood the test of time. Since I don’t really consider myself much of an anime fan at all anymore, it’s one of a handful of Japanese animated classics that I’m not embarrassed to get caught watching. And it’s entertaining to boot.

Quad’s Corner Turns 1!

That’s right, I registered and started posting in this blog one year ago today, back when it was called “World 7″. It’s hard to believe that so much time has passed, and that I’m still only updating, at most, twice a week.

But hey, what is a new year good for other than flimsy resolutions? I’ve made it this far without walking away, why not expand “Quad’s Corner” into something a lot greater? Why not make the leap and transform it into what I always wanted, a place frequently inhabited by nerds and nostalgia hounds?

That’s all well and good, but first I’ll have to figure out exactly how I’m going to do that. And I’ll also need to start posting new content at a more frequent rate than before. The latter issue isn’t so difficult, as it’s due entirely to laziness rather than lack of time. I do have some new full-length movie reviews I’m planning to post soon (delayed due to me being a lousy film critic) and of course, the last part of my Halloween Scare-a-thon.

In the meantime, enjoy the new layout, and have some delicious cake.

No.

No.

Weekend Links

Steve Urkel once guest-starred on “Full House”. The pain. The pain! (poeTV)

The UK battle over “Manhunt 2” continues. (Gamepolitics)

Microsoft is cracking down on profane gamer mottos. (Joystiq)

The Angry Video Game Nerd posted a review of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” Atari 2600 game. Possibly NSFW due to language. (Gametrailers)

Saw V is scheduled for an October 2008 release. Enough already! (ComingSoon.net)

Filthy tears apart The Heartbreak Kid. NSFW, language. (The Filthy Critic)

Nintendo Vice President: No Wii Price cut soon. (Game Revolution)

Classic “South Park”. I’m tired of these language warnings, go for it. (poeTV)

BBFC: ‘Manhunt 2′ Still Makes Us Too Uncomfortable

If you’ve been following the “Manhunt 2″ saga since the beginning, you know that the road to the game’s release has been considerably less than smooth.

Back in June, Rockstar’s controversial stealth/horror sequel got its kneecaps broken and its face pushed into a hot stove, when the ESRB rated it ‘Adults Only’ and the British Board of Film Classification refused to rate it. An AO rating in the United States means no major retailer will carry the game, and The Big Three (Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft) won’t license it for play on their systems. In the UK, if the BBFC refuses to rate a game it’s effectively banned, since authorities have control over what gets released and rely on the board’s advice.

In response to this brutal stabbing, Rockstar edited “Manhunt 2″ and the ESRB re-rated it “M”. The editing consisted of blurring out or darkening the worst executions, and outright removing a castration sequence. Although it was now cleared for release in retail stores, a lot of gamers were not happy with the censoring. A poll on Gamepolitics showed that respondents weren’t going to buy the new version. Obviously the setback was considerable, but whether “MH2″ would escape Leatherface’s chainsaw in the UK was, at that point, undetermined.

And now we know. The BBFC has reviewed the censored M-rated version and refused to rate it, again.

Even with all the crazy censoring that effectively shoved a handful of broken glass into “Manhunt 2’s” festering wounds, it will still be illegal in the UK. Why? Here’s the official statement:

“We recognise that the distributor has made changes to the game, but we do not consider that these go far enough to address our concerns about the original version. The impact of the revisions on the bleakness and callousness of tone, or the essential nature of the gameplay, is clearly insufficient. There has been a reduction in the visual detail in some of the ‘execution kills’, but in others they retain their original visceral and casually sadistic nature.”

Rockstar has responded to this evisceration by (thankfully) refusing to censor the game even further, and announcing that they will appeal the BBFC’s decision.

Rockstar responded with a statement shortly after the announcement, stating that it would also be appealing this decision, and that the extra changes it was requested to make were “unacceptable.” The statement is as follows, “We are continuing to appeal the BBFC’s decision to deny the edited version of Manhunt 2 an 18 certificate and thereby ban its release in the United Kingdom.”

The M rated version of “Manhunt 2″ hits US shelves on October 31st, the perfect Halloween gift for the insane asylum escapee in your family.

40GB PS3 Most Likely Coming to US; No Backward Compatibility

Gamers who have avoided the Playstation 3 because of its abominable $ 599 price tag may finally be getting a well-needed break– sort of.

Gamespot reported a couple of days ago that a stripped down, $ 399 PS3 will be hitting North American shores on November 2, at least according to The Hollywood Reporter. Given that the lite version of the console has already been announced for Europe, this report is likely true.

The 40GB model will be the cheapest Blu-Ray player currently available, and will actually cost less than the Xbox 360’s $ 449 Elite model. Finally, those of us with more lint than crisp bills in our pockets will be able to play the anticipated games on the horizon. Unfortunately…

Unsurprisingly, the Reporter also says the console will have the same stripped-down form factor as the European 40GB PS3, with just two USB ports, no memory card readers, and the still-baffling lack of software-based backward compatibility.

The 2 USB ports I could easily deal with. But no memory card slots or backward compatibility? That’s a major letdown. Given how tremendous the back catalog of Playstation titles is, and the fact that most of the good games are (currently) on the older systems, what’s the deal here?

On the other hand,  the Playstation 2 still widely available and very affordable. But if you don’t own one and have to shell out the extra $ 130 just to have it next to your neutered PS3, guess how much you’ll end up spending.

Left Behind Games: Stop Lying About “Eternal Forces” Or We’ll Sue

Last December, things were relatively quiet here at Quad’s Corner (then called “World 7″). I had just set up the blog a couple of months earlier, and wasn’t really sure what to do with it. On a whim, I decided to write a short little piece on Left Behind Games and their ever-so-controversial RTS game, “Left Behind: Eternal Forces”. I don’t think I offered much of an opinion or peppered the post with my usual sarcastic spite; I was merely repeating what I’d heard elsewhere.

Weekend Links

Don’t download movies or you’ll face the consequences! Hilarious consequences. (poeTV)

And speaking of piracy, the Entertainment Software Association is now telling elementary school kids not to copy games. (Gamespot)

I’m noticing a trend developing this week! A scary looking early 90s rapper tells us not to ‘Copy That Floppy’ (poeTV)

George A. Romero’s zombie obsession will continue through 2008, according to these IMDB listings. (IMDB)

An incomplete Top 10 list of… divorce movies? Huh? (E! Online)

Not surprised, really. Halo 3 becomes the fastest selling video game ever. (Game Revolution)

Nintendo CEO Reggie Fils-Aime: Wii Shortage Will Last Through Christmas (GameSpot)

TurboGrafx-16 CD Games Added to Wii Virtual Console

When I was a kid, TurboGrafx-16 was one of those consoles that I wanted solely because of the name. I mean, come on. ‘TurboGrafx-16′. It didn’t just have Grafx, it had turbo Grafx, and that ‘16′ suffix made it all the better because it was a number higher than ‘8′. Incidentally, that’s the same reason I wanted an Atari Jaguar (RARRRW!) for about a day and a half.

Alas, I never claimed a TurboGrafx-16 as my own, mostly because I never saw one. The game section (more specifically, ‘corner’) at our local ghetto Wal-Mart was dominated by Sega and Nintendo products, and absolutely nothing else. I grew up assuming that the TG-16 was a fantasy some kids at school had collaborated on for a creative writing assignment.

Evidently it wasn’t though, as the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console has effectively demonstrated. Since the debut of the system and its emulation service nearly a year ago, over a dozen TG-16 titles have been added to the North American menu, allowing me to play the games that didn’t exist in my little closed off Seahaven.

Like a lot of the big ‘we’re totally amazing and awesome’ consoles of the early-to-mid 90s, the TG-16 was given a CD add-on. Although it was the first system to do such a thing, it didn’t have the impact that Nippon Electric Company (NEC) hoped it would.

Two of the TurboCD’s offerings (‘Gate of Thunder’ and (‘Super Air Zonk’) will be added to the Virtual Console, according to Gamespot, although they won’t be on discs and hey, waitaminute- the Wii only has 512 MB of internal memory. How is downloading a 700 MB CD supposed to work out? Obviously a lot of compression has been involved with these downloads.

From what I’m seen of the discussion after the GameSpot story, there’s a lot more history about NEC and their ill-fated CD add-on, so be sure to check it out.